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installing of linxcnc

  • rines_design
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27 Jul 2026 17:50 #348107 by rines_design
installing of linxcnc was created by rines_design
Hello everyone,I am new to LinuxCNC and would like some help with the installation process.I would appreciate guidance on:
  • The recommended Linux distribution for the latest version of LinuxCNC.
  • The installation steps for a fresh system.
  • Any prerequisites or dependencies I should install.
  • Common installation issues and how to resolve them.
  • Whether there are any official installation guides or tutorials for beginners.
Thank you for your assistance!

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  • tommylight
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27 Jul 2026 19:55 #348112 by tommylight
Replied by tommylight on topic installing of linxcnc
Old but still valid:



And some nice tutorials:
www.youtube.com/@swolebro/playlists

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28 Jul 2026 12:07 #348127 by andypugh
Replied by andypugh on topic installing of linxcnc

  • The installation steps for a fresh system.

On a fresh system:
(more details here linuxcnc.org/docs/stable/html/getting-st...etting-linuxcnc.html)
Download this file: www.linuxcnc.org/iso/linuxcnc_2.9.10-amd64.hybrid.iso
Write the file to a USB stick (at least 4.1GB) using the instructions here:
linuxcnc.org/docs/stable/html/getting-st...to_a_bootable_device
Plug the USb drive into the PC, turn it on, go to the BIOS screen (often by pressing F2 during boot) to set the USB stick as the boot device, save and exit, then follow the on-screen instructions. 
 

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28 Jul 2026 13:14 #348132 by tuxcnc
Replied by tuxcnc on topic installing of linxcnc

The recommended Linux distribution for the latest version of LinuxCNC.
 

Download latest Debian iso image (current 13.6) and install. (There are thousands guides at the net.)
It is a good idea to manually partitioning and don't use swap partitions (Modern computers with at least few GB of RAM not need swap.)
LinuxCNC without CAD/CAM fits in 8 GB of disk space, 16 GB is better, more will be never used.
You should chose some lightweight window manager. (I preffered xfce4.)
LinuxCNC installation is simple, but I don't have the time or inclination to check now whether I made a mistake, but it should be like this:
apt-get update
apt-get dist-upgrade
apt-get install linux-image-rt-amd64
reboot
apt-get install build-essential dpkg-dev git
cd ~
git clone https://github.com/LinuxCNC/linuxcnc.git linuxcnc-source
cd linuxcnc-source
./debian/configure
apt-get build-dep .
dpkg-checkbuilddeps
# install unmet dependencies if some
dpkg-buildpackage -b --jobs=12
cd ..
apt-get install ./linuxcnc-doc-en_2.10.0~pre1_all.deb
apt-get install ./linuxcnc-uspace_2.10.0~pre0_amd64.deb
apt-get install ./linuxcnc-uspace-dev_2.10.0~pre0_amd64.deb
I don't remember the apt-get build-dep should be before or after ./debian/configure, the rest seems be properly.

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29 Jul 2026 01:37 #348154 by tommylight
Replied by tommylight on topic installing of linxcnc

It is a good idea to manually partitioning and don't use swap partitions (Modern computers with at least few GB of RAM not need swap.)



After you are done counting the CPU's, see lower on the right side, 16GB of swap space on a PC with 96GB of RAM memory. On laptops with 16GB of RAM i do 32GB of swap always.
Although you are correct that usually it is not needed, if you do need it and do not have it the PC will slow to a crawl.
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29 Jul 2026 03:31 #348156 by tuxcnc
Replied by tuxcnc on topic installing of linxcnc

After you are done counting the CPU's, see lower on the right side, 16GB of swap space on a PC with 96GB of RAM memory. On laptops with 16GB of RAM i do 32GB of swap always.
Although you are correct that usually it is not needed, if you do need it and do not have it the PC will slow to a crawl.

It's not like that...
The more memory, the more Linux reserves for disk buffers, which does not mean that it needs that much, or that it actually uses that much.
With 8 GB RAM, the Linux installer creates a 1 GB swap partition, which won't help anyway.
If you really need swap space, you can use a file instead of a separate partition.
The problem is basically that modern Linux stores the existence of the swap partition in multiple places, not just in the /etc/fstab file as it used to be, which results in the system failing to boot when the swap partition is deleted...

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29 Jul 2026 04:00 - 29 Jul 2026 04:27 #348158 by NWE
Replied by NWE on topic installing of linxcnc
Sure you can delete your swap space and most stuff will just work. Some apps won't. SSD space is so much cheaper than 10yr. ago, do your pc a favor and allow at least 1GB swap space if you have to cut it short.

Long ago I read swap kills SSDs so I carefully removed swap from all my linux os. After a long time I learned some of my mysterious linux troubles were swap related (because I used no swap space). It seems most stuff just works without swap, but it hurts stability a little, even if you have more RAM than you'll ever use. Also, nowadays the OS and SSDs are designed in ways so swap is not so hard on SSDs.

Nowadays I  make sure to provide swap space bigger than my RAM. Like 64GB RAM and 90GB swap. This allows hibernation to work. Then I completely disable hibernation because I don't like it. go figure. 
File Attachment:

tuxcnc post=348156

If you really need swap space, you can use a file instead of a separate partition. 
 

That works, also. I recall seeing that automatically created on one of my Linux boxes a while back upon install. I don't remember which distro it was. Might have been Ubuntu.
Last edit: 29 Jul 2026 04:27 by NWE.
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29 Jul 2026 06:11 #348160 by rodw
Replied by rodw on topic installing of linxcnc
I don't know why this conversation got down to swap drives and building LinuxCNC from source. None of that is necessar. LinuxCNC only requires 4-8 gb RAM but I think I'd lean towards 8 gb today.
Just follow Andy's directions, accept the default partitions and have fun. After all he is the Release Manager so should know a thing or two about how to install his releases!
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29 Jul 2026 14:03 #348171 by tuxcnc
Replied by tuxcnc on topic installing of linxcnc

I don't know why this conversation got down to swap drives and building LinuxCNC from source. None of that is necessar. LinuxCNC only requires 4-8 gb RAM but I think I'd lean towards 8 gb today.
 

The author of topic asked for the latest version of LinuxCNC.
The latest version of LinuxCNC is compiled from latest sources...
Compilation of LinuxCNC is easy, easier than many things you have to do after.
Where see you problem?  

I agree, many things are not neccessary, for example PC computer is not neccessary, and LinuxCNC is not neccessary, you could use GRBL  controolled from smartphone, but this is not the subject of the topic.

Modern Linux needs 2 (two) gigabytes of RAM.
Some programs needs more, but LinuxCNC not belongs to them.
My computer I use to write this post (Ryzen 5 with 16 GB of RAM running Firefox on Debian 13.6 with xfce4) uses now 2 GB of RAM, and believe me, this may be less if less memory is installed.

I see, we are on different levels of using Linux...
For me copying whole partition to other disk is normal and often used procedure. I don't need unwanted dependiences, like system not starts without swap partion leaved on old disk. I not need any swap partition, because Linux can use for swap file placed on any mounted partition, and you can turn on/off swap when you need (swapon/swapoff).
Swap file is correct solution, swap partition is a prayer for troubles...

You may use defaults installation settings, and it should works, but why you deny talk about how do it better?


 

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